National Senior Golf Tournament
Organized by ANAGOLF, today through Sunday, Valle del Sol, Santa Ana, www.anagolf.com.

Transitarte Festival
Arts and culture activities, today through Sunday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Morazán, España and Jardín de Paz parks, San José.

Photo show
Rodolfo Carrillo exhibits color photos at the National Gallery in the Children's Museum, San José. Opens 7 p.m.

After spurts of rain in February, meteorologists forecast this month will likely remain “dry” as the temporada seca, or dry season, dictates.

But come April, residents in the Pacific region and Central Valley are in for a little surprise: an early rainy season.

The rainy season, also known as “green” season, could begin between April 21 and 25 in the north Pacific and April 26 and 30 in the central Pacific and Central Valley regions, according to Rebeca Morera, of the National Meteorological Institute (IMN). “That's at least 15 days earlier than normal,” she said.

In the southern Pacific region, which normally sees the first of the showers, rain could begin as early as March 12, she said.

An official IMN seasonal forecast is due later this month.

As for the early green season, Morera said La Niña is to blame. La Niña (The Girl) is a phenomenon characterized by unusually cold sea-surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific.

La Niña began dragging down temperatures during the last quarter of 2007, according to Costa Rican meteorologists and weather analysts worldwide.

IMN weather analysts note that temperatures this year – particularly the lows – have hovered 1 to 2 degrees Celsius below average, dipping as far down as 7 degrees Celsius (44.5 Fahrenheit) at times.

A group of 150 students from Costa Rica High School attacked police yesterday with pipes, wood, rocks and food.

Municipal police said the students attacked officers in the morning after they attempted to shut down vendors selling pizza out of their cars without permits.

“Some citizens had asked us to do something about these vendors,” Police Chief Isidro Calvo said. “The students started with a threatening posture and before long the situation was out of control, with them pegging us with wood, rocks and pipes. Who the heck knows where they got the pipes from?”

Calvo said one officer, Marcos Garcia, remained in the hospital after sustaining kidney injuries. He said two other officers – Gonzalo Segura and Miguel Mora – were also seriously injured.

The chief said that after the initial confrontation, students attacked a nearby soda, which they believed was responsible for the complaint against the street vendors. Four officers tried to defend the soda but retreated when they realized they weren't enough. Calvo said nobody at the soda was injured but the building was damaged.

“This event shows we are in a profound crisis in our schools,” he said.

Calvo said his department plans to file an official complaint against the students and their director, Javier Jara. He said Jara took no action against his students and a press release from the municipality states he “applauded their havoc, congratulated them and told police he had no authority to give them instructions because they were outside school grounds.”

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's recent comments supporting FARC's fallen second-in-command have “brought further anxiety” to Nicaraguans living in the United States, said Arthur Estopinan, chief of staff of U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

As regional tensions escalated amid disputes between Colombia and her neighbors Venezuela and Ecuador, Ortega's support of Colombia's most powerful rebel group adds to the Sandinista leader's list of “potentially nefarious” allies, which already includes the presidents of Venezuela and Iran.

Ortega on Monday criticized Colombian President Alvaro Uribe for “assassinating” Raul Reyes, who was the No. 2 commander of Colombia's oldest guerilla group, the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC), in an attack on Ecuadorian soil near the Colombian border that killed at least 21 other FARC members. Ortega's comments come as Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, plans to visit with Ortega in attempt to gather support to condemn Colombia's attack in Ecuador.

Yesterday, the Organization of American States stopped short of condemning Colombia for crossing into Ecuador to kill Reyes and his rebel force members, but said Colombia had violated international law, Reuters reported.

The organization's Permanent Council agreed in a resolution to set up a commission to visit Ecuador and Colombia to investigate the raid against FARC.

Meanwhile, members of the Fraternidad Americana-Nicaragüense, a group of Nicaraguans living in the United States, are trying to ratchet up U.S. awareness of Ortega's alliances.

“At this stage it's an educational process. Washington is not really aware of the extent to which the Ortega administration is supporting Chávez or Iran,” Estopinan said, adding that Rep. Ros-Lehtinen is trying to get a meeting with U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Elliot Abrams to bring attention to Ortega's “dangerous alliances.” Fraternidad members also plan to speak at the right-wing Washington think tank The Heritage Foundation this week on the issue.

Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican who represents South Florida's 18th District, “shares the concern of the Nicaraguan exile community in South Florida of the alliances between Ortega, Chávez and the Iranian government,” Estopinan said.